RECENT SCHOOL-LEAVER HENRY: AN INSIGHT INTO THE LIFE OF A CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY APPRENTICE 

We recently received an email from Henry Grant, ex-student at Richmond School, who left at the end of Year 11 last year. His email was short and to the point, explaining that he had started an apprenticeship with MGL Group and was attending a Construction Support Technician course at college. This certainly sounded like excellent news, but we wanted to know more! Apprenticeships are an increasingly viable option for students after they finish school or sixth form college, so to get some up-to-date information from someone who had just started one was an opportunity too good to miss. 

We sent Henry some questions and he has been brilliant in finding the time to answer them in great detail – thanks Henry! 

RS: Can you tell us how you got on to the apprenticeship? Talk us through the application / interview process. 

H: I applied for some work experience through a family friend with K2 Construction Management who are developing the world’s largest monopile manufacturing facility for SeAH Wind at Teesworks, Redcar. Monopiles are the bases for offshore wind turbines, in case you didn’t know – I certainly didn’t beforehand! 

I was only there a week, but it was certainly eye opening and I learnt that construction wasn’t all about laying bricks or digging holes. I was lucky that I learnt all about the planning, design, project management and quantity surveying elements of a build. 

On site was another business, MGL Group, who I found out were taking on several apprentices a year and have previously won awards for how they invest in young people. I was able to find a contact through my family and applied for their course. 

It was relatively straight-forward in the end: I had a couple of informal conversations initially for them to gauge my interest in construction and the apprenticeship, then I had to complete an application form. I was then invited to their head office for a formal interview with their HR manager and one of their senior managers. 

I was fortunate that I’d managed to do some relatable work experience and I’d done a lot of background research on the company. The interview questions were mostly quite straight forward! 

They offered me the job before I got my GCSE results too, which was a massive bonus!  

RS: Who, exactly, is the apprenticeship with and where is the college course? 

H: The apprenticeship is with a company called MGL Group which owns Rainton Construction, MGL Demolition Earthworks, Tynedale Roadstone and many more subsidiaries. The group is a family run business and are very friendly to everyone. I’m currently working for their Rainton division and have been sent back out to the SeAH Wind development to gain experience from their engineering and H&S teams. It’s really exciting though as I get to move about and could be anywhere for them on any project in the coming months. 

I study at New College Durham, where MGL send many of their apprentices and my experiences so far are really positive. I’ve met many new friends, support the student union leadership group plus the tutors are all friendly.  They make sure that you are enjoying your work and that you are confident in completing the course.  

RS: What are the official titles of the apprenticeship and college course? 

H: MGL created a new apprenticeship course for this year and one that met my ambitions. It is called a Development Apprenticeship which includes a full overview of management in construction. I’ll be spending 3 months in each of their departments over the two years which includes H&S, engineering, procurement, quantity surveying, marketing and construction. At college, the apprenticeship course is called Construction Support Technician. 

 RS: What’s a typical day like on the apprenticeship? 

In construction, you never really have a typical day as every day is different. I enjoy this a lot as there are a wide variety of tasks to keep me entertained and motivated. I’m only in my second month but I have to be on site or in the office from 8.30am until 5pm every day. Each day starts with a team meeting to establish what work tasks need to be completed. Currently I’m shadowing the site managers, so we are performing a lot of site safety walks and checks. It’s my responsibility to highlight H&S risks, report any hazards and complete paperwork. We’re also currently involved in some major concrete pours and road installations, so I’m learning the basics about how we go about their preparation and execution. 

RS: What’s a typical day like at college? 

College is very much the same every time except it is a lot better than school. Sorry! The timetable for the day is packed but it’s good fun and interesting. At college you get a lot of freedom so you can do whatever you like in your breaks. All the teachers are incredibly supportive and want to enhance your journey as much as possible. They are long days though, I start at 9am and don’t finish typically until 6pm but at least it’s only one day a week. 

RS: What are best / worst bits of your training / college course? 

The best bits about my training and my college course would be how different it can be every day. Everything seems very relaxed too. I’ve been lucky to meet some really good people so far and everyone is fun and friendly and I’m learning new things all the time. One of the worst bits would be the waking up early! But joking aside, there is nothing throughout my journey so far which has been bad, I have really enjoyed all my time in the industry so far. 

RS: What will the training you’re doing now lead on to in the future? 

H: My apprenticeship is very open ended and I’m lucky I’ll get to experience lots of things, so I’ll be able to shape it into what I like best by the end. Once complete I should have the option to do a degree apprenticeship. MGL are really supportive too and will help me with whatever path I choose. I’m leaning towards quantity surveying, but I am going into the next couple of years with an open mind to see what career path will suit me best.  

RS: Do you have any advice for young people thinking of applying for an apprenticeship? 

H: I would say if you like the idea of being in a workplace, have a mature attitude and want to earn some money, then consider doing an apprenticeship. You can still get the same qualifications, but you gain experience and earn money at the same time. Try to figure out what you would like to do and research relevant companies.  Also, there’s no harm in emailing companies you are interested in and asking for possible vacancies – the worst they can say is no, and they often like people to show some initiative. Use contacts from your family and friends to get some work experience to find out about what the workplace is like and what direction you want to go in. 

Thanks to Henry for giving us such an in-depth insight into the life of an early-stage apprentice. It sounds as though he’s destined for great things and we look forward to catching up with him as his career unfolds! 

The photos show Henry in his construction site gear, just before he heads out to Year 11 prom and going back a few years – in his brand-new uniform on his first day in Year 7 at Richmond School!